Downtown Austin Alliance Announces $2 Million Grant to Mobile Loaves & Fishes for Community First! Village Expansion

AUSTIN, Texas, July 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Downtown Austin Alliance (Downtown Alliance) announced today a $2 million grant to Mobile Loaves & Fishes for Community First! Village, the master-planned development in northeast Austin that provides affordable, permanent housing and a supportive community for chronically homeless men and women.

The grant is not only the largest in the history of the Downtown Alliance, but also the largest ever for Mobile Loaves & Fishes, which operates Community First! Village. The $2 million will be used to support the development of the next phase of Community First! Village. The property currently covers 27 acres and features 120 micro-homes, 100 RVs and 20 canvas-sided cottages.

"Every day Mobile Loaves & Fishes is changing the lives of chronically homeless men and women in Austin by providing housing and restoring hope, and the Downtown Austin Alliance is honored to be a part of this innovative work," Dewitt Peart, president and chief executive officer of the Downtown Alliance, said. "As the homeless population continues to rise in Austin, we hope this gift will allow more of our disadvantaged residents to find a community they can call home." 

Collectively, hundreds of partners and thousands of individual donors have supported Mobile Loaves & Fishes to make Community First! Village a reality. The $17 million development designed specifically for individuals coming out of chronic homelessness  is the first of its kind in the nation. More information about the planned expansion of Community First! will be announced in the fall.

"This generous gift from the Downtown Austin Alliance is part of the largest collaborative effort in Austin focused on mitigating the most intractable problem our city faces – which is our neighbors who find themselves chronically homeless and living on the streets," said Alan Graham, founder of Mobile Loaves & Fishes and a key thought leader in the U.S on issues involving homelessness. "Community First! Village has set a new standard in our country in terms of what can be achieved when a community comes together to address homelessness."

When planning Community First! Village, Graham and Mobile Loaves & Fishes wanted a place that didn't just offer a house, but a surrounding community to help serve and support all of its neighbors. The organization has a basic philosophy that housing alone will never solve homelessness, but community will.

Since 2016, Community First! Village has grown to more than 100 residents, and will have more than 200 formerly homeless neighbors living on site when it reaches capacity in 2018. The village has a number of communal amenities, including an art studio, an outdoor movie theater, a medical facility, a community market, places for worship, a blacksmith shop, gardens and more.

The Downtown Alliance has been a strong supporter of Community First! Village since its inception. In 2013, the Downtown Alliance contributed $100,000 for the initial phase of Community First! Village.

About the Downtown Austin Alliance
The Downtown Austin Alliance works with key downtown stakeholders—property owners, residents, business owners, community organizations and government officials—to advance our collective vision for the future of downtown Austin. The Downtown Alliance is engaged in dozens of projects and issues that contribute to the safety, cleanliness, and appeal of downtown Austin to residents, employees, and visitors. As a full-time advocate for downtown, the Downtown Alliance is actively engaged in planning decisions that impact the area. We also advance downtown's vision through direct services supporting safety and cleanliness. For more information on the Downtown Austin Alliance, please visit www.downtownaustin.com.

Mobile Loaves & Fishes
Mobile Loaves & Fishes is a social outreach ministry that empowers communities into a lifestyle of service with the homeless. The organization has been serving in Central Texas since 1998, and its food truck ministry operates 7 nights a week, 365 days a year delivering food, hygiene products and other life-sustaining items to our homeless neighbors. With the support of more than 19,000 volunteers and over 5 million meals served, Mobile Loaves & Fishes is the largest prepared feeding program to the homeless and working poor in Austin, Texas. www.mlf.org

Contact: Lia Truitt or Misty Whited
512-472-9599
[email protected] or [email protected]

SOURCE Downtown Austin Alliance

Related Links

http://www.downtownaustin.com